“New” Cape Central High

When I was in Cape this fall, I made a run out to the new Central High School. It’s not exactly on the beaten path. I had to pull out my GPS to find it. It’s a far cry from a neighborhood school where a good percentage of the students live within walking distance.

I didn’t spend too much time there. I popped in long enough to shoot something specific for a piece I’ll be running in the future.

Phil Ochs came to mind

The place is so spread out that a line from Phil Ochs‘ I’m Going to Say It Now popped into my mind, “To get around this campus, why you almost need a plane.” It takes an aerial to get a good overall photo of the place. (I would have created this using Google Maps so you could pan and zoom into it, but the most recent photos there had a big cloud obscuring the school.)

School cornerstone says 2002

I think this might have been the cafeteria.

The school’s cornerstone is dated 2002, so I guess it’s only us old farts who think of it as the “New” Central High School, much like the students who went to the Central High School on Pacific Street probably still call our school on Caruthers “New” Central.

Wonder if we could tour “Our” Central?

The reunion organizers have scheduled a tour of the new school, but to be honest, I’d rather prowl the halls of the building that houses OUR past. Wonder if it could be arranged?

I spent the better part of a day in the “Old” Central High School on Caruthers and a couple of days in the the Central High School on Pacific. I’ll be posting those pictures before too long.

It was astounding how well maintained Central was. The halls and walls were shiny and clean.

9 Replies to ““New” Cape Central High”

I went three of my four years at the current Central and I still call it the “new” Central. And I still call the building on Caruthers the “high school.” There are a few of us younger ones that still call the new school new even though we went there.

Living on Whitener Street right around the corner from the Caruthers Central, I watched it turn from a corn field into the “new” school I attended. It’s so hard to think that something so important in our lives is now OLD . . . much like some of us!

Take some small measure of comfort in the fact that we AND the building are still standing.

Anthony,

That kind of thinking is what makes following directions in small towns such a challenge: go two miles past the Brown house (names for the family who lived there two generations back) which is painted yellow; go past where the old school burned down in ’47; if you get to where the Sam ran off the bridge when he was drunk, you’ve gone too far.

I did a lot of substitute teaching and student mentoring at old Central in the 1990s. Brought back many old memories and saw a few ghosts. The old gym and locker rooms still give a sinking in the pit of my stomach. Still remember the seat in the auditorium I sat in for a couple of hours after they anounced President Kennedy had been shot.
Touring our CHS would be more enjoyable for most.

when i attened my 30 year class reunion in 2002. one of the organizers informed us that we could get a preveiw of the new school.several folks commented “why?”..and could twe get a tour of the school on caruthers. we were informed no..because of construction? any way, i would have enjoyed walking through the halls once more.there was a pay telephone box outside the auditorium. it was sold wood,had light and a ventilation fan.what i thought was cool was the walls in it were covered with old phone numbers. messages and such. i thought to myself wow! all this history..and i bet southwestern bell just pulled it out one day to upgrade the phone.lot of history dumped someplace

Post navigation

Search

Search for:

Purchases made at Amazon put 6% of the total transaction price in Ken's pocket at no additional cost to you. You're going to shop online anyway, right? Do it through Amazonto support this web site. Pretty please.

Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, was a photographer for The Tiger and The Girardot, and was on the staff of The Capaha Arrow and The Sagamore at Southeast Missouri State University. He worked as a photographer / reporter (among other things) at The Jackson Pioneer and The Southeast Missourian.

He transferred to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, his junior year, and served as photo editor of The Ohio University Post. He was also chief photographer of The Athens Messenger.

He was chief photographer of the Gastonia (NC) Gazette for a long 18 months until he could escape to The Palm Beach Post, where he served as a staff photographer, director of photography, editorial operations manager and telecommunications manager. He accepted a buyout in 2008, after 35 years at the paper.

Most of the stories are about growing up in a small Midwestern town on the Mississippi River, but there’s no telling what you might run into.

Please comment on the articles when you see I have left out a bit of history, forgotten a name or when your memory of a circumstance conflicts with mine.

(My mother said her stories improved after all the folks who could contradict died off.)

Your information helps to make this a wonderful archive and may end up in book form.